Estuary escape in Okura

76 Okura River Rd, Okura, Auckland. Photo / Supplied

76 OKURA RIVER RD OKURA

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SIZE: Land 1.09ha, house 560sq m.

PRICE INDICATION: Registered valuation $3 million. Vendors have bought and will consider offers over $2.85 million.

INSPECT: Sunday 12-12.45pm.

ON THE WEB: precision.net.nz/244528

SCHOOL ZONES: Long Bay School, Long Bay College.

CONTACT: Nicky White, Precision Real Estate, ph 448 1656 or 021 754 667.

FEATURES: A spacious five-year-old five-bedroom cedar home plus two-bedroom guest wing on a 1ha lifestyle block at Okura, at the top of the North Shore. Water views, extensive landscaped gardens and a pool.

In autumn 2004, a British family came to New Zealand for a fateful holiday.

"Each day that we stayed we grew more certain that we wanted to live here, and by the end of our three-week visit we had made an offer on a piece of land at Okura," says Sue Bramah Adams.

The site was the cliche of the immigrant dream. It was a hectare of land, nestled among rolling farmland and native bush, looking out over the Okura Estuary and across the sea to the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, with the East Coast Bays beaches a short drive away. The only noise came from the birds.

Like many immigrants, the family of four were lured to New Zealand by the promise of lifestyle, and the Okura site had it in abundance. It was a "truly peaceful setting", says Sue, in walking distance to the estuary for swimming and kayaking, and a quick drive from a boat ramp, but close to good schools and work opportunities in Albany and the city.

With the setting for their Kiwi dream secured, Sue and her husband, Jack Bramah, hired architect George Paterson to design a house that would bring it to life. They wanted a home that would suit the landscape in both layout and aesthetics, and maximise the views and all-day sun. It needed to be easy to live in, with space for an active family plus overseas guests.

"George seemed to have an understanding of how to create a home of unique and interesting design," says Sue. "His brief was to build a home that would stand the test of time, be sustainable and fit in with the environment."

Two years after that first visit, the vision of their new life became a reality. The soaring two-level cedar home makes the most of every minute of sunshine, and every drop of the sea view.

With 560sq m of floor space, there's more room in the seven-bedroom house than most city dwellers have in their entire sections.

The children, 12-year-old Oliver and nine-year-old Benjamin, love the space indoors - which includes a rumpus room.

They are also well served with outdoor play options, including a solar-heated pool, a tennis wall, plenty of grass to kick a ball on, a concreted play area and even their own private "fortress", consisting of two towers with connecting rope bridge and climbing net.

Jack, a composer and performer of traditional Celtic music and a specialist in the Galician bagpipes, also has plenty of room to indulge. The couple factored into the design a home cinema, with adjoining office, that serves double duty as a studio for Jack to record his own work and that of his three-piece European folk band, Tamlin. He also loves the high stud and sloping ceilings of the main living area. "The acoustics in this room are superb - great for listening to music, playing live music and watching films," says Sue.

Guests are also spoilt: the house contains a private north-facing two-bedroom apartment, complete with kitchen and bathroom.

Even chickens and bees are catered for, with a chook house and run, and 10 beehives.

The family is moving on to the next step in its Kiwi dream - a larger plot of land that will cater for all of the above, plus pigs.

Sue says she will miss waking up in the morning to a "spectacular" view over the estuary. "This view changes with the seasons, with each tide and with the weather. The estuary is the most stunning place."